About this Book

Reading Guide Questions

The
Lady and the Unicorn is based on real tapestries of the same name. Does the
knowledge that The Lady and the Unicorn is based on real events and
people affect your reading? If so, how?

The novel is structured around the making of the tapestries, from
their conception to their completion. The lives of the people involved in their
creation are altered. What does this suggest about the interconnectedness of
life and art?

In The Lady and the Unicorn, each character has a different
understanding of the function of art. Is it, as Claude believes "to imitate
life" or is it as Nicolas des Innocents suggests, "to make things more beautiful
than they are?"

In Girl with a Pearl Earring and in
The Lady and the Unicorn,
Tracy Chevalier seems to suggest that art and desire are intertwined. How does
she do this? Do you agree? Similarly, both novels also seem interested in the
relationship between the viewer and the viewed.

The novel is written from a number of points of view. What does this
allow Tracy Chevalier to achieve? Nicolas des Innocents's point of view is
pivotal. Can you explain why?

Is Nicolas des Innocents as innocent as his name suggests? What does
he learn by the end of the novel?

The tapestries feature a unicorn and a lady. In the novel, a unicorn
is a symbol that has a very different meaning for each character. What does the
unicorn represent to Nicolas des Innocents? To Jean LeViste? What else does the
unicorn mean?

Each tapestry represents a different sense with the exception of
the sixth. In this one, the lady is holding the necklace she wears in the other
five tapestries as she stands in front of a battlefield tent, with a lion and
the unicorn holding the flaps of the entrance open. Emblazoned above the
entrance in gold is the phrase "A Mon Seul Desir" ("To My One Desire"). Some
interpret this tapestry as a renunciation of the five senses; others argue that
it shows love is the sixth sense and the tapestry is an introduction to
seduction. The novel offers an interpretation through Nicolas des Innocents who
says that the tapestries "aren't just about a seduction, but about the soul
too." What does the sixth tapestry mean to you

How are secrets important in this novel?

In The Lady and the Unicorn the relationship between mothers
and daughters is explored. How is the relationship between Claude and Genevieve
different from the relationship between Alienor and Christine? How are they
similar? What do they suggest about the way mothers and daughters interacted
with each other at this point in time?

In this novel, Tracy Chevalier describes the position of women at
this point in history. What was their primary role? How did the novel's
different women - Genevieve, Claude, Alienor, and Christine -deal with the
limitations places upon them by society? Is Claude right when she says,
referring to the convent, "A place that is a paradise to Maman and a prison to
me. But that is what a lady's life is, I've found."?

The novel takes place in Paris and in Brussels. We learn of the
snobbery of the French towards the Belgian people and get a real sense of how
these two societies were different. How does this opposition contribute to the
novel?

How does Philippe de la Tour's job as the cartoonist foreshadow the
part he will play in Alienor's life?

Are the tapestries the only works of art in this novel? What else
could be considered a work of art?

Leon le Vieux at the end of the novel says, after "poking at the
lavender and rosemary bushes, 'I'm always surprised how resilient these are in
winter' " What else could he be referring to?

The Lady and the Unicorn takes place during two years,
starting during Lent-Eastertide 1490 and ending in Septuagesima 1492. How does
the compression of the events into two years contribute to the novel's power?

In the novel's last scene, Genevieve tells Nicolas that the tapestry
describing touch is her favorite. She explains that she likes it best because
"she is very clear, that lady-clear in the soul. She's standing in a doorway, on
the threshold between one life and another, and she's looking forward with happy
eyes." Nicolas tells us that his inspiration is quite different, that he had
sought to describe Christine "standing in the doorway to the workshop, pleased
that she would be weaving. What does Genevieve's interpretation reveal? What
does Tracy Chevalier seem to suggest about the very nature of art in Genevieve's
interpretation and Nicolas's intent?

Reproduced with
the permission of the publisher, Dutton.

Unless otherwise stated, this discussion guide is reprinted with the permission of Plume.
Any page references refer to a USA edition of the book, usually the trade paperback version, and may vary in other editions.

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